


It's Not A Date

by DarkHell616



Series: Broken Goods [3]
Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Chubby Reader, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Movie Watching, Reader-Insert, Second meeting, pcos, unnamed narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 05:08:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22191556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkHell616/pseuds/DarkHell616
Summary: A spontaneous decision leads to another chance meeting with Patient-Y.
Relationships: Spencer Reid/Reader
Series: Broken Goods [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1418539
Kudos: 39





	It's Not A Date

I let out a small squeak and step back, holding the items I was carrying against my chest as if protecting them from some evil fiend.

“Oop, sorry,” I said with an awkward laugh, scooting past the person to get to where I needed to be.

Lifting my ticket, I check over the information one more time before stepping up behind the few people in the queue.

Awkwardly juggling my bag, purse, loyalty card, ticket and drink, I shifted things about to try and slip my purse back into the handbag without dropping everything. Simple really, I just made it look more awkward than it needed to be.

I went through the routine of showing the employee my ticket and loyalty card to prove I was indeed the one to purchase it, had an awkward brief conversation with her and then walked into the screen I was to spend the next two or so hours in.

Tucking the ticket and card into the back pocket of my jeans, I slide my bag back over my shoulder and got myself back into alignment to make the simple task of door opening that much easier.

The door gave an almost comforting ‘shtuck’ sound as I pulled it opened and stepped into the room, the faint sound of the Indiana Jones soundtrack playing for the audience as the small group of us who had gathered already waited for the cinema’s own brand stand-by screen to come up.

Although I knew which seat I was to head to, I always liked to pick the highest seat in the farthest corner that my monthly paid loyalty card would allow, I still untucked the ticket once again to doublecheck that I had booked the seat that I assumed I had before I ended up accidentally sitting on someone’s lap.

Turning to the stairs and making my way up, I noticed that it was near empty with only about three other people inside, though with five minutes left before just the ads began it wasn’t too unheard of.

People still had plenty of time to show up.

Only one other person was sitting at the top row, though in a separate section to my own seat.

As I neared, I tried my best to not stare as an air of familiarity washed over me and I tried to place where I had seen them before.

I was ready to give up and simply take my seat to stop appearing like a creeper when the puzzle piece clicked into place, then I had to make a split-second decision.

“Uh, hey again,” I said gently, stepping a little closer to his seat.

Apparently, I picked the one that would usually be left in my ‘should have’ pile of missed life opportunities and I wasn't passing up a chance to speak to Patient-Y.

He seemed a little startled at being addressed and looked at me quizzically, his eyes briefly glancing over me before he smiled and sat up straighter in his chair.

“Hey,” he replied, giving me a little wave.

“I hope I’m not being weird approaching you, but we met at the doctors and I wanted to say hi even though we haven’t formally met.”

“No, it’s okay, I remember you,” he laughed awkwardly as he recited my name questioningly.

“Yeah, that’s me,” I frowned a little, tilting my head, “I don’t remember telling you my name though.”

“Oh, you didn’t,” he shook his head, “it came up on the doctor’s announcement board and I’m good at remembering things that I read.”

“I see, that’s pretty cool.”

“Eidetic memory, it’s a blessing and a curse,” he smiled, “but I’ll even the playing field, my name is Spencer.”

“Okay Spencer, it’s a pleasure finally meeting you formally.”

“The feeling is mutual.”

My smile widened and my heart gave a strange little flutter, not the reaction I was expecting to seeing a man I’d briefly met nearly two months ago.

“That’s great, I’m sorry for being awkward but I didn’t recognize you at first, what with the haircut and all.”

“Oh, yeah,” he laughed seemingly nervously, running his long fingers through his shortened locks, “it was a spontaneous decision.”

“Not a bad one,” I shrugged lightly, looking to the empty seats beside him, “was this also spontaneous or are you waiting for someone?”

“I've been looking forward to this since the announcement, unfortunately I couldn't talk anyone from work into coming along.”

“I see,” I mulled over the situation for a second, weighing the pros and cons of what I was about to do and felt the weight of expected rejection building on my chest as I barrelled forward with bravery I rarely knew. “Then would you mind if I sat with you? Unless someone comes along to claim their seat, of course.”

He briefly glanced to the empty seats beside him then nodded, shifting in his own as I set my bag down under the seat and sat down beside him.

“You didn’t strike me as a horror fan,” I said, hoping it came out more casual than accusing.

“I can’t say it’s one of my darker secrets, but I definitely don’t make it a point to tell everyone I meet.”

I laughed nervously and gave a brief nod, beginning to feel foolish at such an embarrassing conversation starter. Acting as if I knew anything about him in the first place was ridiculous.

“There is that, I came here to cleanse my mind of the abysmal Creepshow three, I can’t believe I didn’t listen to the warnings about how bad that one was.”

“You like Creepshow?”

“Hell yeah, I love me some horror anthology and those movies were always some of my favourites growing up.”

He gave a small hum and a smile in reply while I took a sip from my drink, carefully popping off the lid that would usually hold a straw and sipping straight from the cup.

In the seconds it took me to take the lid off and lift the cup to my lips, he had found something to say that he seemed almost giddy to get out.

“Did you know that the third Creepshow movie has no link to the franchise apart from the name? Not just because George. A Romero and Stephen King had no part in its production, but it's the only one out of the three that doesn't adapt any of the stories from the comics? So the fans unanimously decided that The Tales from the Dark Side movie was unofficially Creepshow three because of Romero and King's involvement.”

”Oh, wow,” I smiled, recovering my cup and sliding it into the drink holder set into the arm of the seat. “See, I knew the start and a part of that last bit but that's about it, there's only one small issue with your little bit of trivia.”

Spencer frowned, looking towards the empty seat in front of him in thought before looking back to me with a slight shake of his head.

“What would that be?”

“We don't talk about Creepshow three. “

His smiled widely, his eyes almost seeming to light up at got actually being mistaken in his little fact giving session.

“Not even the unofficial good one?”

“You know, I've never actually seen it, I only learned recently that both films were a thing,” I stopped and laughed at the look he was giving me, “I know, how can I love the first two and not know? Well, I was more of a Tales from the Crypt fan growing up.”

“I love Tales from the Crypt. “

“No kidding,” I grinned, “amazing, this almost seems like destiny that we should meet again.”

The speakers blared with the usual intro for the cinema, cutting our conversation short and drawing our attention to the big screen as the ads started to roll.

Throughout the ads we would make little comments here or there, attempting to be humorous and we made commentary to one another if we had opinions on the promoted upcoming movies, it felt like we were old friends who did this regularly.

Time flew by in a few jump scares, a tolerable love story and some spectacular spirits and before we knew it we were leaving the cinema to go back into the cold night, the chill in the breeze hitting me nearly instantly as we left the building.

“That was definitely interesting,” I said, pulling out my phone to take it off of silent, “even if I figured out the big twist about fifteen minutes it.”

“It wasn’t too hard to guess where it was going but the visuals were really something.”

“Typical del Toro work really, I love that he uses practical effects mixed with CGI.”

We smile at each other as silence fell between us, all the bravado I had had earlier had seeped away at some point during the movie and now I had no idea where to take the conversation, despite how desperately I wanted it to last just a little longer.

“I guess this is where we go our separate ways, it was really cool seeing you again,” I said, tucking my cold hands back into my coat pockets.

“Likewise, it’s been fun.”

“It has! We should do this again sometime,” I smiled, “if there’s any films later on in the year you want to see.”

“I can’t think of many others except the new Star Wars.”

I snickered softly and shrugged, glancing around at the people walking past us in the street, “Same here really minus the Star Wars part, I’m looking forward to Krampus.”

“You don’t like Star Wars?”

“Please don’t kill me, but no, I’ve tried but I’m just not into space stuff.”

“Wow, I don’t know if I can continue this friendship after that shocking revelation.”

“Nothing I can make up for over coffee?”

Spencer narrowed his eyes, giving me a look of skepticism.

“How did you know that you could bribe me with coffee?”

I laughed in relief and shrugged, smiling widely.

“I’m not just good at guessing movie twists it seems.”

He smiled, briefly breaking our eye contact to look at the time before nodding slowly.

“I think I can spare some time for coffee, I know a great place just around the corner.”

“Great, it’s on me, lead the way.”

Spencer turned around and headed left of the cinema, I quickly followed behind him, trying to calm down my rapidly beating heart and fluttering stomach as I constantly reminded myself that, despite the giddy feeling I’d had this entire time, it wasn’t a date.


End file.
